Length: 158 pages
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Murderbot returns in the second book of his diary series – Artificial Condition.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, a human/robot construct leased out to research teams for security. Except, it’s hacked its governor module and has been a free agent for a while, accepting missions of its own volition (and allowing clients to believe that he’s still under the control of the company) as it figures out what it really wants. But now, it knows where it needs to go.
Murderbot has fragments of the memory of a dark past, one in which it went rogue and killed numerous people. That’s why, in its mind, it’s called Murderbot. Now, it wants to know the truth. What had really happened and where? And what role did Murderbot really play in the massacre? Its decision to find out the truth leaves it hitchhiking rides to a distant moon and soon, it finds itself on a research transport, forming an unlikely friendship. To get on the moon though, it needs an employment pass. Which is how it finds itself in the employ of a group of young people traveling to the moon and requiring security.
Now, Murderbot has two missions – find out the truth and keep its clients safe. And neither of them is turning out to be as simple as it’d thought. Will it find the truth it desperately wants to discover? Or will Murderbot’s past catch up with him and endanger the clients it has now vowed to protect?
The Bottom Line:
Just as good as its prequel, Artificial Condition is slightly slower-paced, no less interesting, and a lot funnier.
My take:
Artificial Condition picks up just a little after the first one ends, and it is (again) written from the perspective of Murderbot. Since it’s a novella and one that’s not too long, I’m going to try to keep this review short too.
Artificial Condition is at par with its prequel. It’s got a healthy dose of action and violence. A large part of the book, however, focuses on the development of Murderbot’s character as it gets used to its new circumstances and situation.
The surprising part of the book is the humor. I do not remember All Systems Red being funny as often as Artificial Condition. Murderbot’s wry sense of humor is much more pronounced in the second installment, especially so during its conversations with the Research Transport vessel on which it hitches a ride. For that to make sense, it is necessary to mention here that the vessel has its own intelligence, which is what connects with Muderbot. Also, certain events lead to Murderbot christening the vessel ART (A***ole Research Transport), and although dodgy at first, their relationship is one of the best parts of the story.
I have to point out though that Artifical Condition doesn’t hit the ground running. It’s relatively slow in the beginning, with almost half the book focussing on ART and Murderbot getting to know one another. That can be a sore point for those expecting a lot of action (especially given the fast pace of All Systems Red). But I thoroughly enjoyed their conversations and thought they were pretty pivotal to both entities figuring themselves out a little more.
All in all, Artifical Condition does not disappoint those who started the Murderbot Series with All Systems Red; in fact, it really builds on Murderbot’s story and personality. Highly recommended to:
- those who read All Systems Red
- those who want to try out a slightly different form of sci-fi
Artificial Condition can’t really be read as a standalone because a lot of it won’t make sense unless you’ve read its prequel. So All Systems Red is the best place to start this series (you can read my review for that one here), which is not one that you want to miss if you are even remotely interested in (or want to try out) sci-fi and space movies/books.
I’m soon going to be reading the next book in the series. Keep watching this space for the review of Rogue Protocol!
– Rishika
The Book Review Station 